Shaw-Fujikawa Translight Engine
The Shaw-Fujikawa Translight Engine '''(SFTE) or human '''slipspace drive is a human spacecraft propulsion system capable of making transitions to and from slipstream space, thus enabling faster-than-light interstellar human travel. History The engine was developed by a group of engineers and theoretical physicists led by Tobias Fleming Shaw and Wallace Fujikawa and was completed in April 2291. From that point onward, the drive became one of the most important technological innovations of humanity. By 2552, a vast majority of large human spacecraft were equipped with a slipspace engine, including most, if not all of the UNSC Navy's warships. Functionality The Shaw-Fujikawa Translight Engine functions by creating ruptures between normal space and an alternate plane known as slipspace (also known as slipstream space and Shaw-Fujikawa space). The nonstandard physics of slipspace allow it to be used as a shortcut realm, Facilitating Interstellar travel between distant regions in reasonable time. The engine makes ruptures by using high-power cyclic particle accelerators to generate microscopic black holes. Because of their low mass, Hawking radiation gives them a lifetime of around a nanosecond (or potentially a little longer than a whole second) before they evaporate into useless thermal energy. In that nanosecond, the engine manipulates them into forming a coherent rupture between normal space and the slipstream. An engine remains active for the entire period that a spacecraft is in the slipstream. When active, a Shaw-Fujikawa engine emits alpha (helium nuclei) and beta (fast electrons) particles. Human slipspace drives were considered black boxes which were very difficult to repair or maintain after they went hot for the first time. Kurt-051 considered slipspace drives dangerous, noting the aforementioned radiation and that space and time was said to distort around an active device. Dr. Halsey also observed that in the past, several technicians had simply vanished while manually adjusting a drive. A ruptured slipspace drive can create slipspace "splinters" in normal space, eventually consuming the drive and the entire ship which the drive was placed on. Mechanical failures like Slip Termination, Preventable, or STP, can also occur with slipspace drives, usually resulting from poor maintenance. The elements Selenium and Technetium are used to manufacture Shaw-Fujikawa Translight Engines. Atypical uses There have been several occasions where a Shaw-Fujikawa Translight Engine has been used for purposes other than those intended. * In 2531, UNSC Spirit of Fire reused its slipspace engine as an improvised bomb in order to induce a supernova in the miniature star at the heart of a Shield World, Shield 0459. The bomb worked perfectly, destroying the Shield World's interior after Spirit of Fire escaped. * In the same year, the Office of Naval Intelligence used a partially deconstructed drive to cause Kurt-051’s armor to malfunction and send him flying into space. * The UNSC has twice attempted to execute under-powered slipspace transitions. They were both unsuccessful and lead to the conversion of the trial spacecraft into “atomized bits.” Classification The efficiency of a Shaw-Fujikawa Translight Engine is determined by its classification, or "class". * Class 1: Restricted to military use, a spacecraft mounting a Class 1 slipspace drive can travel from Sol to Epsilon Eridani in 48 hours. * Class 2: Typically mounted on civilian spacecraft, can travel from Sol to Epsilon Eridani in 96 hours. Category:Technology Category:Parallels Category:Imperial Entanglements